Some of you may recognize this song from the TV show Chuck, which arguably has one of the best soundtracks ever. Some of you may be just like me: Hopelessly devoted to this Scottish band called Frightened Rabbit.
I have not loved Frightened Rabbit when their amazing second record, The Midnight Organ Fight, came out 10 years ago. My love for them grew afterwards, after being in love with the wrong guy in 2010. In some senses he was the right guy, though, because he introduced me to the band, a favorite of mine ever since. I’ve shared this band with so many people since - friends, lovers, family… they’ve really started to become an essential part of me. So essential I keep buying their merchandise. I in fact own several Frightened Rabbit shot glasses, shirts and a hat.
“Keep Yourself Warm” is their key track to me, it resonates in every sense: Emotional, intellectual, artistic. I love how it starts so slow, with Scott Hutchinson’s mourning vocals accompanied by sorrowful keys. The lyrics describe a mess - a drunken mistake, a futile affair just to drown out loneliness. According to Hutchinson’s piece on the record for The Skinny, he wrote the songs after breaking up with his longtime girlfriend and realizing it was a mistake. “Keep Yourself Warm” captures this misery so beautifully, so articulately. Hutchinson doesn’t embellish, he just says it how it is. That honesty, that fearlessness to be vulnerable, is why I love Frightened Rabbit. By the end of the song it turns into a raging bull with a wall of guitars, keys and drums.
This juxtaposition between the sorrow and the rage, the quiet and the loud, the soft and the strong displays the emotional hurricane Hutchinson must have been in. I’ve personally never been in his position, but if it hurts so much as it sounds like, I’d rather not be. Then again, it might help my songwriting. Anyone wanna break my heart?
You can learn more about Frightened Rabbit here:
About the curator - Julia Maehner
Julia knows two main passions: Music and writing. From an early age she has been making music after a fashion. When she was 13, she sat herself down and decided: “I will be a music journalist. Because I love music and writing.” After a brief intermezzo in New York City working for the music boutique agency Girlie Action as a digital marketer, she moved back to Germany. This experience helped her build her know-how for her marketing client, the IT company .objective Software. She still writes for several German music magazines and is working on launching her own blog, amps on ears.
Find out more about Julia and her projects:
- juliamaehner.com
- ampsonears.com (coming soon!)
- objective.de